Changed Variable
by 087-B
Summary: Teru Mikami takes one extra precaution before January 28...how does this changed variable drastically affect the final battle between Light and Near? Experimental One-Shot, not a very good one at that. Slight AU. My take on how Death Note should have ended. Spoilers for Episodes 32-37 of the Death Note anime. Multiple character deaths.


**This right here is my first story for the Death Note series.**

**It's a very sucky one shot.**

**This story is just an experiment so don't expect much.**

**Here's the main gist of it: We all know how Death Note ends, right? Well, the entire plot of DN runs along a path of preset variables. What if one variable was to be added, removed...or altered? Teru Mikami makes a different decision when he creates the fake Death Note. How does this decision affect the events that occurred on January 28?**

**Yes I've seen the entire Death Note anime series and I've read 3/4 of the manga.**

**Some spoilers ahead! If you haven't seen the entire series of Death Note, do NOT continue if you don't want some spoilers to its end!**

**Also, I'm pretty sure everyone in his story is OOC in some way! Sorry but I suck at writing for DN!**

**Here it is, this piece of trash one shot:**

**)****Changed Variable****(**

"**Delete.**"

The normal man who knew Teru Mikami like the back of their hand would definitely put that word at the top of Mikami's favorite words list. He uttered it roughly twenty-five times every day; one for every murder he had committed.

He praised God the day he had been given the Death Note, and proceeded to fill it up, one page completely filled a day, every day. The spaces on each page allowed for a total of twenty-five names to be written; an extra twenty-sixth name could be squeezed in on top of you had very small hand writing.

Teru smirked at his latest completion. His earlier call from Takada...his request from God in the heavens above...had been fulfilled.

Changed, but fulfilled.

Teru Mikami's IQ was very high, he was by no means an idiot. Was he loyal? Very much so, and while his loyalty occasional overlapped his intelligence, and rarely his sense of justice, it didn't make him any dumber. He knew inside he couldn't be stumped unless it was God who played him like a deck of cards. Because of his high intelligence quotient, he knew he wouldn't make stupid decisions.

Returning to the topic of God, the request he had received was simple; create a fake copy of the Death Note after sending five blank pages from the real notebook to Takada. Sounded like a simple task, though creating a perfect replica wasn't easy.

However, Mikami took it one step further. He created _two_ frauds.

He figured that, on the off chance the real notebook had been come across, he'd need another duplicate to play the role of the real one. He'd keep one fake on him, one fake hidden away, and the real one in a perfect hiding place. This way, anyone who assumed the fake Mikami had was actually faked would search for this second fake, thinking it's real due to him hiding it away and not using it.

Mikami copied all of the contents of the real notebook into both fakes. If everything went as planned, then God would finally win. Kira would be victorious. Yet he still had to be careful.

Teru needed to notify both Takada and God of this small change; Teru didn't have a direct relay to God, but he could send a message through Takada-

"Wait...never mind that, better to leave it a surprise." Mikami changed his train of thought quickly. "If I alert God and Takada of this second fake, then they'll have to change the plan at the last minute. If I can figure out the plan as they go along, then maybe I can work this fake into helping God succeed in what he's trying to do."

Mikami smirked and stared at the three books; Real, fake, fake. "This will be perfect."

The clock read midnight. Had he really spent three hours perfecting these duplicate notes?

No matter. It would be worth it.

Carefully enclosing five hidden pages of the real Death Note in a small envelope which was then tightly sealed into another envelope, Mikami hid the notebooks in his briefcase took hold of it, and left his room to mail the pages.

"Soon." He muttered. "Soon everything will be in God's hands, and all evil will be deleted."

:::::

January 28th, 2013.

Here he was, approaching the warehouse.

It was time. Time to take his place alongside God.

"Don't let your loyalty get to you this time, Mikami...one slip up and God dies." Teru muttered very quietly to himself. "Remember the plan...the fakes are in my hands and the enemies hands, but the real one...the real one is also on me..."

Teru had taken another precaution, one to make sure God wouldn't be stuck any longer in a position where he couldn't act.

Teru had taken a small strip of normal lined paper and overlapped a certain part of the real death note. This paper strip did not have the actual effects of the notebook; it was a completely normal slip of paper. He would write down God's name on this strip, but everyone else's name on the actual page. Calculating how many people there were in the warehouse, Mikami placed the strip over the 9th line of the page.

If this worked out, he and God would be the only survivors to leave the building.

Earlier, he also took the precaution of not writing down Takada's name in the notebook. Had he done that, it probably would have caused the reveal of God's identity and would have gotten him potentially killed. He knew that, while God was in a position where he couldn't make a move, he would be the one to take care of Takada.

The doorway was in front of him, slightly ajar, enough for him to peek in.

Mikami's Shinigami Eyes helped him a lot during his time as, what the enemies called him, X-Kira. He peeked through the doorway and looked over everyone's heads. Nine people. Nine names. One Kira. He looked at the name of one man. The lifespan wasn't present.

Light Yagami.

_God! _Mikami thought, slightly overjoyed.

This was it. He immediately took out the fake notebook and started writing everyone's names down, muttering "Delete!" constantly, making sure to write Light's name down on the 9th line of the page. He then quickly copied the names on to the real notebook on the same page, each name in their respective slots...however, there were also prewritten deaths in these slots.

Each prewritten death was the same; (Insert name) will die of cardiac arrest after realizing the truth about the real Death Note's location.

This way, he and God would be able to enjoy watching the many others look on in horror as they all perished, the last thing that they would ever see would be the two Kira's, standing over them, victorious.

In a flash, Mikami was called inside, and was taken hold of by the police. He faked looking slightly shocked, yet slightly confused. Inside, he felt like he had taken a very good path when it came to making a second fake.

"Sir..." God...err, Light began. He smirked slightly towards Teru. "How long has it been since you wrote the first name in that notebook?"

Teru pulled his right arm towards him, against the force of the policeman holding him, and looked at his watch.

"30 seconds." He said, and he began counting up from there.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

When he reached 39, Light spoke.

"Well, Near...looks like you've lost."

"40!" Mikami shouted. He knew nothing was going to happen...just yet. Everything was in motion, but nobody knew it yet, not even God.

But Teru knew. But he couldn't smile or laugh, he couldn't call the enemy- Near, he thought his name was, an idiot, a complete moron, saying he didn't know about the second fake. He knew that Near had detained the second fake, all he had to do now was get him to show it off. Then it would be all over.

And Kira would win.

Light made some...interesting shocked faces, looking around at everyone in confusion. Nobody had died. "Wait, what's happening? Why hasn't anyone died?!"

"That's because the notebook Mikami wrote in was a fake." Said none other than the incredibly strange, very cocky, platinum-blond teen-detective, head of the SPK, and successor to L, known as Nate River, or his code name, Near. "We've been monitoring Mikami's movements for a while, and as soon as we noticed a slight change, we knew it had something to do with the notebook.

"We managed to locate two notebooks; one in Mikami's possession at all times, and one he hid in his safe at the bank. We knew that the one he had was fake all along, based on his actions with it contradicting the actual deaths of criminals that occurred. We found a significant time difference that we could only track to Takada.

"It became clear to us that Mikami had sent a few pages of the notebook to Takada while he hid the full Death Note in his bank safe. He kept the fake with him and wrote names down on the normal pages, while he messaged the names to Takada afterwards, who then wrote them down on the actual pages and executed criminals.

"We managed to create another fake to replace the real notebook found in Mikami's safe, and that's what he had been using. A complete forgery." Near gestured to Mikami to hand over the notebook he had written in. Mikami smiled inside and tossed him the fake.

Near took the bait.

"As you can see..." Near held up the notebook and opened it to the latest page, much to Light's horror and disgust. "Our names have been written down right here and we have yet to die. No additional details have been written and judging by the ink, or names were written approximately 5 minutes ago, meaning we should have died 4 minutes and 20 seconds ago.

"Light's name being written down is to try and prove his innocence, to show he is indeed not Kira. But we now know that Light Yagami is indeed Kira, and this fake notebook won't do us any harm." Near smiled very slightly and removed another black notebook from his shirt. "The real notebook is right here."

Teru Mikami smiled a dastardly smile within.

**_Kira wins._**

"What...?!" Light muttered is disbelief, struggling to take in the fact that Near had beaten him. Beaten Kira. He looked at Teru and glared harshly. "Mikami, how could you be so...so...so **_stupid_**?!"

Then Mikami started chuckling.

The chuckling started to break out into full laughter as he got a deranged look in his eyes. He pulled away from the policemen and ran across the room, looking back at everyone who looked confused; with the exception of Near of course, who still seemed fairly certain he had won.

"You people...are complete **idiots**!" Mikami shouted. "Did you really think you could beat God?!"

"Mikami...what are you saying?" Light asked, still thinking he had been defeated.

"I made more than one fake, God!" Mikami shouted, making the whole room go silent. Light stared at Teru, surprised and in awe of Teru practically saving his life.

"I made more than one fake notebook." Mikami repeated. "I figured that the real one would get found, so I created two fakes. I sent the pages to Takada, just like you ordered me to, God.

"I kept one fake on me at all times, and one fake hidden in the bank! I made sure to keep them both hidden but both easy to access, so they could be tampered with and we'd know if they had been!" Mikami then smiled a wider grin. "They took the bait, and now we can create a new world, God!"

"Mikami..." Light muttered.

"Teru Mikami...could I have underestimated you?" Near questioned to himself, his smile fading and being replaced by his usual demeanor. "No, that can't be possible...can it?"

Teru reached into his coat and pulled out another notebook. "I had the **real** one on me **all this time!**"

As soon as Mikami finished his sentence, multiple things happened. Light stood still in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The entire Japanese Task Force and the SPK collapsed, groaning and moaning in pain as they fidgeted around before their eyes appeared empty, still, glazed. They had all died, their hearts stopping almost instantaneously.

All except Near, who, for the first time in his life, wore an expression of complete and utter fear. He stared at Teru Mikami, then slowly turned his head to face the fake notebook he held in his hands. He threw it away and screamed in rage and fear, staring at the ceiling. He then looked at the two Kiras and collapsed, shivering and spasming uncontrollably, his eyes remaining fixated on them.

"How...could I have been beaten by these..." Near started talking weakly, then trailed off. "How could L have considered me...? I'm...inferior? I'm not good enough to succeed him?"

Teru Mikami uttered one word.

"**Delete.**"

With that final word, everything in Near's world fell silent as he stopped shivering. His eyelids slowly lowered over his eyeballs before sealing shut. His faint heartbeat slowed to a complete stop.

Near, the successor to L, had died.

Kira had won.

**)-End-(**

**Well, this sucked a bunch, didn't it? Please, criticize it all you want! This story was meant to be an experiment anyways, I wasn't trying to make it brilliant. I just wanted to try and attempt to get a feel for writing for Death Note.**

**If you liked this cruddy oneshot, good for you. If not, good for you. If you want to potentially see more, and maybe what Light's life could be like after Near's death...well if I try and write that it would suck.**

**Have a fine day, everyone.**

**~087-B**


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